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Sunday

Top Attractions of New York City - Wall Street

Wall Street is one of the world's most famous streets. Historically
known as the center of New York's financial district, Wall Street is
often associated with wealth and ambition in America.

How It Got Its Name

Wall Street

NYSE

40 Wall Street

After the Dutch purchased "New Amsterdam" from the Native Americans, a
palisade was erected that formed the northern boundary of the new
colony. The first "walls" along the street were basic plank fences, but
as time passed and tensions grew, a stronger, taller wall was built in
order to defend the colony against both the British and the American
Indians tribes that still dominated the area. In 1685, after the
original palissade was torn down and replaced with a new wall, a new
street was created parallel with the wall, aptly named Wall Street. The
British removed the defensive wall in 1699.

How It Got Its Reputation

Records show that in the years after the Revolutionary War, traders and
speculators would gather under a particular buttonwood tree that sat at
the foot of Wall Street. They soon formed The Buttonwood Association
(1792), which is believed to be the roots of the New York Stock
Exchange, whose headquarters has been located on Wall Street for
centuries.

Buildings along Wall Street

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Wall
Street was "the place" to be if you were a large financial institution
or other big business. So many buildings sprung up on this tip of
Manhattan that the Wall Street district began to boast its own distinct
skyline, separate from the buildings in Midtown.

People like J.P Morgan built headquarters like the one at 23 Wall
Street, which was - for decades - the most important financial
institution in the country. (One can still see the pockmarks on the
building, left there from an unsolved bombing that occurred in 1920.)

Other notable buildings include the columned Federal Hall,
originally built to house City Hall and its offices. The New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE) Building is also quite grand, built by George B.
Post in a neoclassical style

Federal Hall

Charging Bull

that earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. Equally as notable is the ornate 40 Wall Street, once home to the Bank of Manhattan.

The Charging Bull Statue

One of the Financial District's most famous symbols is the 'Charging
Bull' Statue (The bull represents a bull market, a constantly rising
market).

Inspired by the stock market crash in 1987, sculptor Arturo Di Modica
created the 7,000-pound (3175kg) bull statue as a token of optimism. In
1989 he placed it - without authorisation - in front of the New York
Stock Exchange in Wall Street. Police removed the statue but thanks to a
public outcry it was reinstalled, but this time on Bowling Green, a
small square annex park near Wall Street. The statue has become one of
Lower Manhattan's most popular attractions.